| Trump, on 1st death from virus in US: 'No reason to panic" Posted: 29 Feb 2020 04:46 PM PST  Seeking to reassure the American public, President Donald Trump said Saturday there was "no reason to panic" as the new coronavirus claimed its first victim inside the U.S. The White House also announced new restrictions on international travel to prevent its spread. Trump, speaking only moments after the death in Washington state was announced, took a more measured approach a day after he complained that the virus threat was being overblown and that his political enemies were perpetuating a "hoax." Trump appeared at a hastily called news conference in the White House briefing room with Vice President Mike Pence and top public health officials to announce that the U.S. was banning travel to Iran and urging Americans not to travel to regions of Italy and South Korea where the virus has been prevalent.
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| Trump says getting rid of "bad" people made him successful Posted: 29 Feb 2020 03:35 PM PST  President Donald Trump said Saturday that his "journey" in the nation's highest office would have been a failure had he not be able to rid the government of people he says are "bad." Trump came into office railing against what he and his allies call the "deep state" — career government employees and political appointees held over from prior administrations — claiming it was out to undermine him. "We have such bad people and they're not people who love our country," Trump told several thousand cheering and chanting supporters at the the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
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| Trump fends off criticism of 'hoax' remark after first US coronavirus death Posted: 29 Feb 2020 03:32 PM PST  Man dies in Washington state as president says he used word hoax 'with regard to Democrats and what they were saying'Shortly after confirmation of the first coronavirus death in the US, Donald Trump rebuffed criticism for using the word "hoax" in describing the outbreak. The president also touted his administration's coronavirus response as "the most aggressive action in modern history".Trump made his startling "hoax" claim at a rally on Friday in North Charleston, South Carolina, the state which held a Democratic primary on Saturday."The Democrats are politicising the coronavirus," Trump said. "They're politicising it. One of my people came up to me and said: 'Mr President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.' That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax."This is their new hoax."On Saturday, Washington state officials confirmed that a Seattle-area man in his 50s had died. Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency.The patient, who was chronically ill, went to a Kirkland hospital with "serious respiratory issues", officials said at a press conference, adding that the man was tested for the virus on Thursday night.Officials also announced two additional presumptive positive cases, both associated with a nursing home in the same city. A woman in her 40s who worked at the home was in satisfactory condition, while a woman in her 70s who was a resident was in serious condition.The announcement came a day after state officials confirmed two other cases, including a high-school student in the town of Mill Creek with no history of international travel and no known interactions with people infected. The other was a woman in the Seattle area in her 50s who recently returned from South Korea.According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, 83,652 cases of coronavirus and nearly 2,800 deaths have been reported worldwide. The vast majority of cases are in China but the virus has caused havoc with stock markets and international travel, sports and business.Before news of the Washington death, US authorities reported three new cases in the Pacific north-west, bringing the national total to around 65.At the White House, confirmation of the Seattle death met with confusion. During a press conference, Trump called the person who died "a wonderful woman, a medically high-risk patient in her late 50s".Trump was asked if he regretted using "hoax" now someone had died. His use of the word referred to "the action [Democrats] tried to take to try to pin this on somebody because we've done such a good job", he said."The hoax is on them. I'm not talking about what's happening here," Trump added, also saying "I don't like it when they are criticising [federal health officials], and that's the hoax."Trump was also asked if his use of "hoax" could deter people from taking cautionary steps against the coronavirus. He said it would not.Trump also said he would meet pharmaceutical companies on Monday to discuss expedited vaccine development.Vice-president Mike Pence, heading the coronavirus task force, described four new initiatives, including expanding the federal ban on travel from Iran. Pence said US officials would also increase to "the highest level" a warning to Americans not to visit areas of Italy and South Korea and said the state department would work with these countries to screen individuals.The vice-president also said the administration had contracted with 3M to produce an additional 35 million face masks per month.Trump's comments about a hoax were condemned by Democrats seeking the nomination to face him in the presidential election."For him to … start talking about being a hoax is absolutely dangerous," Biden said in Greenville, South Carolina, on Saturday. "It's just not a decent way to act."The former vice-president added: "Some of the stuff he says is so bizarre that you can laugh at it. It just so diminishes the faith that people around the world have in the United States."Look, this is a serious, serious, serious problem. It's able to be solved, but it requires us to be absolutely levelheaded and let the scientists have the lead in all of this. But for [Trump] to … start talking about being a hoax is absolutely dangerous. It's just not a decent way to act."Other candidates weighed in. Sanders asked why Trump "repeatedly think[s] that scientific facts are hoaxes" and said "the most dangerous president in the modern history of our country" was "putting our people's lives at risk".Pete Buttigieg told NBC News: "It's critically important that the administration and the White House handle this in a way that's based on science and not on politics." American lives, he added, "depend on the wisdom and the judgement of the president at a time like this".Amid attacks over budget cuts to epidemic defences as his administration asked Congress for funding to address coronavirus, Trump's decision to put Pence in charge of US response has also met with criticism.Republicans and supporters of Trump have fired back, accusing the president's opponents and the media of seeking political gain. On Friday Donald Trump Jr told Fox News Democrats had reached a "new level of sickness" and wanted to see coronavirus kill "millions of people".That night, Trump said: "We are doing everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering the country. We have no choice." He also sought without offering evidence to tie coronavirus cases in the US to the southern border, the focus of his hardline immigration policy."Whether it's the virus that we're talking about," Trump said, "or the many other public health threats, the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of all Americans."At the White House on Saturday, Trump said the administration was not seriously considering closing the border with Mexico.
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| AP VoteCast: Many SC black voters back return to Obama era Posted: 29 Feb 2020 02:15 PM PST  South Carolinians were voting in Saturday's Democratic presidential primary with a greater sense of nostalgia for the Obama presidency than voters in earlier contests — likely reflecting the state's sizable bloc of African American voters. Voters in the Palmetto State were more likely than those in Iowa and New Hampshire to want to restore the political system to the way it was before President Donald Trump took office, as opposed to seeking a candidate who will enact fundamental change.
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| Trump says ready to help Iran with coronavirus if asked Posted: 29 Feb 2020 01:57 PM PST  US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was ready to aid Iran with its outbreak of novel coronavirus if the country asked for assistance. The virus has now hit 61 countries across the globe, prompting the World Health Organization to raise its risk assessment to its highest level. Iran's health ministry on Saturday reported nine new deaths, taking the total to 43.
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| Seattle Confirms First U.S. Death From Coronavirus & West Coast Reports More Cases Not Related To Travel Posted: 29 Feb 2020 12:15 PM PST  The United States' first reported Coronavirus-related death is reported in Washington State. The FDA is taking steps to speed up laboratory tests for the virus after another case in Washington, one in Oregon, and two in California are reported that do not appear to be connected to travel to a country affected by the outbreak. The second Washington case is confirmed, but the single case in Oregon and those in California are awaiting lab results from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials reported the fatality on Saturday, February 29. While this is the first death in the United States from the coronavirus, it is not the first death of an American, reports CNN. Earlier this month, a 60-year-old U.S. citizen died in Wuhan, China, where the virus first appeared.> The Washington State Department of Health confirms the first U.S. death from COVID-19 has occurred here in the state of Washington. We will share more information at a media briefing today at 1pm. Information to watch via livestream will be shared here. COVID19> > — WA Dept. of Health (@WADeptHealth) February 29, 2020Of the two cases in Washington, one is a woman who recently traveled to South Korea. She worked for one day after returning to the U.S. before noticing symptoms. Officials are now investigating her workplace and anyone she may have come into contact with, Dr. Jeff Duchin, a health officer at Public Health of Seattle and King County, confirmed to CNN. The second case is a teenager who appears to have no obvious connection to the virus via travel or known exposure. "It's concerning that this individual did not travel, since this individual acquired it in the community," said Dr. Kathy Lofy, a Washington state health officer, during a news conference at the Department of Health Shoreline on Friday. "We really believe now that the risk is increasing."As of Saturday morning, the United States has 66 known cases of coronavirus, reports NBC. This includes nine recovered cases and four "presumptive" cases, which means that they tested positive in local tests but are awaiting confirmation from the CDC. In a press conference from the White House, Trump said, "Additional cases in the US are likely, but healthy individuals should be able to fully recover." Vice president Mike Pence added that the U.S. would be expanding restrictions on travel from Iran, where there has been an increase in reported cases. Additionally, Pence said that the U.S. would issue a travel advisory for affected regions of Italy and South Korea. "We are urging Americans to not travel to the areas in Italy and South Korea that are most affected by the coronavirus," he said at the same press conference.Worldwide, confirmed cases have surpassed 85,000, with 2,900 total reported fatalities. The CDC announced that it is hoping to have every state and local health department testing for the virus by the end of the week.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Why Mike Pence Is Unfit To Tackle CoronavirusWill The Coronavirus Get The Olympics Cancelled?Shanghai Fashion Week Cancels Due To Coronavirus
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| Trump Adds New Travel Bans But Continues To Downplay Coronavirus Risk Posted: 29 Feb 2020 12:08 PM PST  During a Saturday press conference, the president announced new travel restrictions on Iran, Italy and South Korea.
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| U.S. officials announce new travel restrictions due to coronavirus Posted: 29 Feb 2020 11:35 AM PST |
| Israeli PM vows not to shirk corruption trial after election Posted: 29 Feb 2020 11:13 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday he will face corruption accusations against him head on in court and will not seek to pass legislation to derail his upcoming trial if he wins re-election this week. After failing to secure parliamentary immunity last month, insiders had speculated that Netanyahu would attempt to pass alternative legislation if he secures a parliamentary majority. Two weeks later, Netanyahu goes on trial for charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from accusations he accepted lavish gifts from billionaire friends and promised to promote advantageous legislation for a major newspaper in exchange for favorable coverage.
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| Egypt: We'll use 'all means' to defend Nile interests Posted: 29 Feb 2020 11:04 AM PST |
| Chicago mayor: Police shooting video 'extremely disturbing' Posted: 29 Feb 2020 10:39 AM PST  Chicago's mayor said video footage of police shooting and wounding a suspect inside a downtown Chicago train station is "extremely disturbing" and that she supports the interim police superintendent's request for prosecutors to be sent directly to the scene — an unusual or perhaps unprecedented action in the nation's third largest city. After watching what she called the "widely shared footage" of the Friday afternoon shooting inside the Red Line L station, Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted that although "one perspective does not depict the entirety of the incident, the video is extremely disturbing and the actions by these officers are deeply concerning." "To ensure full transparency and accountability, I support Superintendent (Charlie) Beck's decision to contact the State's Attorney due to the potential criminal nature of this incident," she tweeted.
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| Person in Washington State Is First in U.S. to Die From Coronavirus, Authorities Say Posted: 29 Feb 2020 10:16 AM PST  A middle-aged patient in Washington state became the first person to die from the 2019 novel coronavirus inside the United States, officials said on Saturday as they announced additional cases and declared a state of emergency there.At least 69 people on American soil have had confirmed cases of the novel 2019 coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in a large seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China, where it killed thousands before spreading to dozens of other countries across the globe, with particularly severe outbreaks in Italy, South Korea, and Iran. One American also died in China earlier this month, the State Department said at the time.President Trump said in a press conference Saturday that the person who died in Washington state overnight was a "medically high-risk patient in her late 50s." However, Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Seattle and King County public health, later said it was actually a high-risk man in his 50s."It's a tough one, but a lot of progress has been made," Trump said, stressing that the risk to the general population remained low. "We're doing really well," he added, "under incredibly adverse circumstances... We're prepared.""I want to assure this family that they are in the hearts of every American," said Vice President Mike Pence, who was named this week as czar of the president's coronavirus task force despite a public-health track record that has come under harsh scrutiny. Pence called Trump's actions in response to the outbreak "unprecedented."Pence announced additional travel restrictions on Iran and specific regions in Italy and South Korea. Trump also said he was "very strongly" considering imposing restrictions on the U.S. border with Mexico.Pence added that the government had contracted the company 3M to make an extra 30 million face masks, on top of 40 million already available. "Let me be very clear: The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask," he said.Dr. Robert Redfield, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there was currently "no evidence" that the person who died had traveled recently to China or had any contact with someone who had. Which is to say this was the latest case of what experts call "community spread," or cases of unknown origin. The death came amid a surge in cases in Washington overnight. Officials announced three new cases—on top of one announced late Friday—including the first healthcare worker to test positive in the U.S., and also discussed the first possible outbreak in a longterm care nursing facility.Duchin said the facility in question was Life Care in Kirkland, Washington. One patient was a woman in her 70s, a resident in serious condition; another patient in the state was said to be a healthcare worker in her 40s who had no known travel outside the U.S. Duchin said the facility had 108 residents and 180 staff, and there were dozens of people in both groups who had experienced symptoms and would be tested.Italy Shows Just How Crazy Coronavirus Panic Can Get"I would like to say that while there is some spread in some communities, there is not national spread of COVID-19," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said.Shortly after Duchin announced the outbreak at Life Care, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced he had declared a state of emergency, directing agencies to use all resources necessary to prepare for and respond to the outbreak. "This will allow us to get the resources we need," Inslee said. "This is a time to take common sense, proactive measures to ensure the health and safety of those who live in Washington state."Those updates on Saturday bring the total number of cases detected in the American public health system to 22 and the total in the U.S.—including repatriated people from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess cruise—to 69.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said more cases were to be expected on American soil but that "any single death for us is a real tragedy."The reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe respiratory illness and death and can include symptoms like fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. Symptoms are believed to typically appear between two and 14 days after exposure. Authorities have worked to reassure Americans that the U.S. health system has the capacity to handle a surge of the deadly illness, which has previously had about a two percent fatality rate globally among confirmed cases.Over the course of several hours on Friday afternoon, officials in California, Washington state and Oregon all announced that residents with no known risk factors had tested positive. In Washington, officials said a high-school student who had been on campus just that morning had the virus. They did not say anything then about the now-deceased patient. In Oregon, a school employee had tested positive and may have exposed an untold number of elementary school staff and students.Coronavirus Spreads in Oregon, California, Washington. How Many Are Already Infected?A Washington state student fell sick Monday with fever, body aches, and a headache, and was seen at two clinics in Snohomish County. The teen felt better by Friday morning and returned to Jackson High School—only to be notified soon after that they tested positive, authorities said."The few students they were in contact with have been notified and will remain home for 14 days with symptom monitoring by the Snohomish Health District," the school district said in a letter to parents.The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday took new steps to expand testing of novel 2019 coronavirus in hospitals following complaints from labs that the previous requirements for in-house testing development were too onerous.Under the policy announced Saturday by the FDA's commissioner, Stephen Hahn, due to "critical public health needs" during this "dynamic and evolving situation," labs can begin using their own tests after validating them—but before the FDA has finished reviewing their request for emergency use authorization.In January, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" and the HHS Secretary Azar declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the nation's health system in responding to the outbreak. Cases have been confirmed in Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, California, Arizona, and Washington state.Several major companies have begun to cancel conferences and travel plans within the U.S. over fears of an outbreak, which some have warned could have cascading effects on the travel industry and larger economy. Already, the U.S. stock market had its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.The CDC has, in various statements, described its response to the virus so far as both "aggressive" and "unprecedented," even as experts have criticized the agency's ability to quickly provide working diagnostic tests to identify the illness. Both a potential vaccine and drug treatment option are expected to enter clinical trials in April and—if successful—translate to the public market within 12 to 18 months.Trump Identifies the Real Coronavirus Victim: His PresidencyMeanwhile, around the globe, the viral outbreak that began in Wuhan, China has now infected more than 85,000 people in 40 countries.Italy's Civil Protection Agency announced that it had a total of 1,128 cases on Saturday. South Korea—which has the largest outbreak outside of mainland China—confirmed more than 800 new cases overnight, as Iran saw a 205-case jump and France banned public gatherings of more than 5,000 people in an effort to slow the spread of its 73 cases on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Ecuador and Qatar confirmed their first cases of the virus.In North Korea, Kim Jong Un held a high-level meeting in which he ordered all-out efforts to fight the virus and threatened "serious consequences" if it "finds its way into our country."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Boris Johnson’s Government Rocked by Crisis at U.K. Home Office Posted: 29 Feb 2020 09:53 AM PST |
| Jailed UK-Iranian woman fears she has coronavirus: husband Posted: 29 Feb 2020 08:13 AM PST  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran, believes she has contracted the new coronavirus as Iran struggles to contain a surge in new cases, her husband said on Saturday. The 41-year-old detainee complained that prison authorities are refusing to test her for the COVID-19 virus, despite suffering from a worsening "strange cold", according to spouse Richard Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ensure that his wife is tested immediately, and that British-Iranians "held hostage in Evin Prison are diplomatically protected".
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| U.N. chief welcomes U.S.-Taliban deal, stresses need to sustain reduction in violence Posted: 29 Feb 2020 07:44 AM PST |
| Eight fighters with Lebanon's Hezbollah killed in Syria Posted: 29 Feb 2020 07:37 AM PST  Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group lost at least eight fighters in northwest Syria in skirmishes with insurgents and airstrikes by Turkey's air force, an opposition war monitor and the militant group said Saturday. The casualties followed the death of at least 33 Turkish soldiers earlier this week. The deaths marked the highest for the group in Syria in years as Hezbollah has pulled out many of its fighters from the neighboring country.
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| Jeff Sessions in fight to win back his old Senate seat Posted: 29 Feb 2020 07:25 AM PST  To reclaim the Alabama Senate seat he held for 20 years, Jeff Sessions must first get through a competitive GOP primary with challengers eager to capitalize on his very public falling out with President Donald Trump. The former attorney general is banking on his long history in state politics as he tries to persuade Republican voters that he is the best candidate to advance Trump's agenda. Sessions gave up the Senate seat when he was appointed Trump's first attorney general, a position he was forced to resign after his recusal from the Russia inquiry sparked blistering criticism from the president.
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| Sanders Is Stirring Cold War Angst. Young Voters Say, So What? Posted: 29 Feb 2020 07:15 AM PST  MIAMI -- In the spring of 1989, as the outgoing mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, traveled to Cuba on an eight-day trip, with the hopes of meeting the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro.The 47-year-old Sanders didn't get time with Castro, but he toured Havana, met with its mayor and marveled that visitors could take a cab anywhere in the country. "The revolution there is far deeper and more profound than I understood it to be," he said back home, according to The Burlington Free Press, and commended Cuba for providing free health care, free education and free housing.Many older Democrats with sharp memories of the Cold War have been baffled and even offended by Sanders' praise for the country -- which is in the spotlight after he repeated some of it on "60 Minutes" this week -- and it is one of the reasons they believe a self-described democratic socialist like Sanders would be a risky presidential nominee."It was a colossal blunder," said Bob Squires, 70, of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. "Loses Florida. If you look at Twitter, the people who had relatives come from Cuba, they have quite a different view. Bernie's got blinders on."But for many younger progressives, the negative reactions to Sanders' comments -- which were also aired and debated in his 2016 presidential campaign -- seem like boomer panic and a pernicious form of red-baiting, and reveal the divides within the Democratic Party."Socialism is a supposedly scary term that we've talked about so much, but we really don't understand," said Nolan Lok, 18, a chemistry major at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he cast a ballot early Wednesday, before its primary next week."In a society where technology is so important, where it takes fewer people to produce more things, we're going to have to have a more socialistic society, where the government needs to step in more," he said. "The government is going to be required to do more, and it's something we should welcome, not be afraid of."This generational divide among Democrats was vividly apparent in interviews across the country this week assessing Sanders' views and history, which included trips to the Soviet Union and Nicaragua as Burlington's mayor as well as complimentary remarks about the Sandinistas. He has repudiated U.S. foreign policy backing anti-Communist governments and resistance forces, and he has been fervently against war. But his remarks about Castro stand out, like his expression of amazement in 1989 that the Cubans he had met "had almost a religious affection for him."Older liberals show varying support for Sanders' positions, and the generational split was less apparent in South Florida, where many Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans do not like his views. Yet progressive voters born after the end of the Cold War -- many of them people of color -- dismissed the concerns about socialism as anachronistic and irrelevant.For years in Washington, those left-wing views defined and to some extent diminished Sanders, an independent congressman and then senator who was widely regarded as a quirky outsider to the Democratic establishment. But now as the front-runner for the party's nomination, Sanders is being pressured to explain his anti-imperialist worldview in the face of scrutiny and criticism from his rivals.Sanders, 78, was pilloried during Tuesday night's debate in Charleston, South Carolina, for his remarks on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, when he complimented the literacy programs Castro had enacted. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said Sanders had a "nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s" and lamented the prospect of "reliving the Cold War."Buttigieg and other Democrats say Sanders' views not only are misguided but also reinforce his image as a socialist, which will make him and other Democratic candidates down the ballot easy targets for President Donald Trump and Republicans. And if he were to win the nomination, his stances could jeopardize his chances in Florida, the largest presidential general election battleground, where there is little room for appreciation of the 1959 Communist Cuban revolution.Sanders stood by those positions at the debate, where he criticized U.S. policy in Latin America and repeated his praise for Castro's literacy program."Occasionally it might be a good idea to be honest about American foreign policy, and that includes the fact that America has overthrown governments all over the world in Chile, in Guatemala, in Iran," Sanders said.Many older Cuban Americans cringed at Sanders' remarks, saying he sounded like an apologist for Communist indoctrination. And his views provoke particularly strong resistance in Miami, where the Cuban diaspora remains a powerful political force."I was offended by his ignorance," said Mario Cartaya, a 68-year-old architect in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who left Cuba when he was 9 and is on the board of the Florida Democratic Party. "It is hurtful not just to Cubans, but it's hurtful to every other Latin American who has fled their country because of the tyranny in those countries.""And it's not an old comment that he can take back now, 'He's learned from his past mistakes,' or whatever," Cartaya added. "He said it now; he doubled down on it."The backlash was evident not only among conservative Cubans but also among liberal ones who helped former President Barack Obama win Florida twice."It's actually incredible that it's 2020 and we have to talk about this again," said Fabiola Santiago, a columnist for The Miami Herald who wrote an emotional column about her experience as a young girl in Cuba. "We have to rehash Fidel, and we have to rehash the Cuban system. I don't understand exactly what his motivation is."Sanders' campaign does not view his remarks on Cuba, or his history of praising socialist governments, as problematic for him because it matters more to older moderate voters, a demographic Sanders already finds hard to reach.Aides believe he is competitive in Florida in the Democratic primary, and the campaign plans to run commercials in all of the major media markets by next week. It is already deploying staff members to every region of the state.In South Carolina, which holds its primary Saturday and where many Democrats are evaluating candidates based on their perceived ability to defeat Trump, older voters examined Sanders' unyielding views through the lens of electability."The man had his honeymoon in the old Soviet Union," said Harvey William, 70, who works in Charleston, referring to a trip Sanders and his wife made there shortly after they married in 1988. William, who intends to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden, spoke bitterly about his experiences with socialism growing up in Guyana.Voters at Sanders' events, however, hardly mention his foreign policy views, instead ticking off his domestic policy agenda that includes implementing "Medicare for All" and making public colleges and universities tuition-free."Millennials don't remember the Cold War," said Maurice Isserman, a history professor at Hamilton College who has studied democratic socialism. "They don't react in the same way to the word 'socialist' and associate it with totalitarian communism."Instead, young voters have experienced a structural shift in the economy, including the 2008 financial crisis and the crushing burden of college debt, that has given them a more critical view of capitalism, he said. Isserman, though, warned that Republicans would use the senator's comments to attack him in a general election."Bernie is not a communist," Isserman said. "He's not a totalitarian. He's a Scandinavian-style democratic socialist. But he's also a product of the '60s, and he has a kind of in-your-face confrontational style. It's not so much politics as style that is his liability."Blanca Estevez, a member of the National Political Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America from Arkansas, said her political leanings initially confused her mother, given that the family fled the civil war in El Salvador. But Estevez said she had made some inroads."I've been able to tie in my mom's everyday values to the work that we do -- telling her that she's always shared everything she has, she's always helped her neighbor, she's made sure people have what they need where they're down on their luck," Estevez said. "Four years ago she hated Bernie Sanders. Now we have his sign in our yard."Even in Florida, Sanders has some support among younger Cuban Americans, although they do not necessarily agree with his views on the Castro dictatorship. Defending Castro's literacy program "kind of misses the bigger picture, which is the means don't justify the ends," said Julian Santos, 30, a legislative aide who was raised by Cuban immigrant parents in Hialeah, the most heavily Cuban American city.Still, Santos backs Sanders, as he did in 2016, because of his emphasis on addressing economic inequality and racial injustice.In states like California, where Sanders has devoted time and resources to reaching out to the Latino community, some older Democratic voters have come around to him.Concepcion Cruz, a 64-year-old Mexican immigrant who voted early in Los Angeles this week, said she had backed Hillary Clinton in the last election. But her three sons have supported Sanders since 2015, and despite her initial intention to back Biden this year, she changed her mind after watching several debates."I want someone who is strong and experienced and will get the current president out," she said. "We're not going to become a socialist country. That's not something I am worried about."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Confusion on the Border as Appeals Court Rules Against Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' Policy Posted: 29 Feb 2020 07:15 AM PST  A federal appeals court found a central pillar of the Trump administration's immigration agenda legally invalid Friday, ruling that asylum-seekers must be allowed into the United States while their cases weave through U.S. immigration courts.The court stayed its decision, however, in order to allow the government time to appeal the ruling.After a year in which nearly 1 million migrants crossed the southwestern border, jamming processing facilities and defying President Donald Trump's attempts to curtail immigration, border crossings have dropped sharply in recent months, in part because of the administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, the subject of Friday's court ruling. The decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, if allowed to stand, would eliminate one of the administration's key levers for controlling the arrival of new asylum-seekers.A three-judge panel in San Francisco upheld an injunction blocking the policy, which has required people applying for asylum at the border to wait in Mexico while their claims for protection are reviewed, a process that often takes months or years.The judges gave lawyers in the case until Monday to respond to the stay.Since the "Remain in Mexico" restrictions were rolled out early in 2019, more than 59,000 asylum-seekers have been turned back by U.S. authorities into Mexican border cities, where kidnappings and violence have surged. Because shelters in Mexico are scant and overrun, many of the migrants are living in vast tent encampments exposed to the elements. Powerful Mexican drug cartels have moved in to exploit them."It's a resounding rejection," Judy Rabinovitz of the American Civil Liberties Union, who was the lead lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said of the court's ruling earlier Friday. She added, "The policy is a disgrace, it's illegal, it's morally indefensible, and it needs to stop."Chad Wolf, acting secretary of homeland security, said U.S. border officials have continued to process meritorious asylum claims and reduced fraudulent and invalid claims."Should this ruling stand, the safety and security of our border communities, international relationships and regional stability is at risk," he said in a statement."This nationwide injunction is grave and reckless, rewrites the laws passed by Congress and undermines the U.S. Constitution," he said.Lawyers who brought the challenge represented a group of 11 asylum-seekers who had been returned to Mexico and several legal advocacy organizations. The plaintiffs won a nationwide injunction, but because a higher court stayed the ruling, the policy has continued to expand -- most recently taking effect in Nogales, Arizona, in December.Friday's appeals court ruling, before it was stayed, prompted widespread celebration among those who had been fighting the policy, followed by hours of confusion over when and how it might go into effect. Wolf said his department was working with the Justice Department "to expeditiously appeal this inexplicable decision." Human rights organizers in the Mexican border cities where asylum-seekers are clustered -- including Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros -- scrambled to analyze the opinion while also trying to maintain calm among the thousands of migrants now held up in those cities to prevent a panicked rush toward the United States.Migrants held in Mexico under the policy began gathering at several international bridges. About 50 collected Friday evening at the Paso Del Norte bridge in Ciudad Juarez, hoping to cross into El Paso, Texas, but Mexican authorities closed the bridge to all traffic.A 28-year-old man from Cuba, who was among those trying to cross, said he would wait for an opportunity. "If God wants us to, we will cross," said the man, who did not want his name published for fear of jeopardizing his asylum case. "I'm going to wait here."Late Friday, the Customs and Border Protection agency said it had halted processing of new cases under the program, but that was before the stay. "We are continuing to utilize every tool at CBP's disposal to ensure the integrity of our immigration system and processing programs," the agency said in a statement.The policy at issue is known formally as "migrant protection protocols" -- although the lawyers who challenged it argued that it did just the opposite by placing vulnerable people in harm's way. Instead of safeguarding people fleeing persecution abroad, as is required under federal law, the policy banished them to perilous conditions in a different place, the lawyers said.Government lawyers defended the policy based on a little-known provision of the 1996 federal immigration law allowing the U.S. government to return some migrants to contiguous countries while their cases for entry into the United States are being processed.They argued that the provision could be applied to asylum-seekers and that the United States had fulfilled its legal duty to protect people fleeing persecution by conducting a screening to identify possible fears before it sends people back to Mexico.But those challenging the policy countered that asylum-seekers are exempt from the legal provision and said the government's provisions for screening to determine whether migrants had a credible fear of persecution was insufficient. They pointed to cases of people who had been kidnapped or raped while they were waiting in Mexico and were told afterward by U.S. authorities that their fear of residing in Mexico was not credible.In a 2-1 opinion Friday, the appeals court judges said the policy violated the federal government's obligation to avoid returning migrants to dangerous places, and they concluded that the legal provision invoked by the government in creating the policy was never meant to be applied to asylum-seekers.They found that the policy was "invalid in its entirety" and concluded that a lower-court ruling that initially enjoined its implementation was "not an abuse of discretion." The stay issued Friday night, the court said, would remain in effect pending review of the government's petition for an immediate appeal.Judge William Fletcher, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote the opinion, joined by Judge Richard Paez, also a Clinton appointee. Judge Ferdinand Fernandez, nominated to the court by President George Bush, dissented.In a separate ruling Friday, the same panel of appeals court judges rejected another of the Trump administration's attempts to restrict asylum. In that case, the judges reviewed a policy that blocks people who entered the United States illegally -- as opposed to presenting themselves at a legal port of entry -- from applying for asylum.The court found unanimously that the policy runs counter to asylum law, which states that people can apply for the status regardless of where they enter the country. That policy had been enjoined by a district court judge shortly after it was announced, and the appeals court Friday affirmed the injunction."What's especially significant is that, in both cases, the court found that the administration ignored Congress," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, who argued the case.The administration took additional steps last year to make it harder to apply for asylum, signing a deal with Guatemala to resettle asylum-seekers there, instead of in the United States. It also adopted a policy requiring most applicants from Central America to first seek asylum in another country along their route of travel.That policy is also being challenged in federal court.The policies are part of a constellation of measures undertaken by the Trump administration to help stem the record number of migrant families, mainly from Central America, who began crossing the border in the fall of 2018.The influx led to overcrowded detention facilities and overwhelmed immigration courts, prompting Trump to double down on his pledges to build a wall and clamp down on immigration across the southwestern border.Taken together, the policies have effectively shrunk the U.S. asylum system to a fraction of what it once was. By the end of the 2019 fiscal year, in October, overall border apprehensions had shrunk to 60,781, from a high of 144,116 in May.The news that the "Remain in Mexico" policy might be invalidated sparked chaos in some areas of the border, where some migrants have been living for months in filthy and crime-ridden areas, with little hope of entering the United States. Emma Obando, 42, had been cooking plantains for her two sons in the Matamoros tent encampment Friday when a crying woman ran toward her, yelling to everyone she passed, "We should go; we should cross right now because they have undone the law of MPP."Obando has been living in Matamoros with her 7- and 10-year-old sons, the elder of whom has autism, since September, after having fled their home in Honduras. She said many migrants flocked to the border after hearing news of the court ruling Friday, but soon after, organizers called them off, instead advising people not to "make a big fuss" yet and to prepare their government documents instead.Eventually, Obando said, the mood calmed. She decided to try crossing into the United States with her sons Saturday.Mexican officials and civic leaders were also trying to make sense of how the ruling might impact their communities."There are various unknowns, various questions," said Dirvin Luis Garcia Gutierrez, the head of the migration program for the population agency in the state of Chihuahua.He said that Ciudad Juarez, where more than 19,700 migrants have been returned under the program, was currently supporting a transient population of between 13,000 and 15,000 migrants, including migrants returned under the program as well as those who are still waiting to cross into the United States to apply for asylum.In an immigration court in downtown San Diego on Friday morning, more than a dozen migrants who had been subjected to "Remain in Mexico" were in court for their asylum hearings when the appeals court opinion was released. Most were not represented by lawyers and had little guidance on how to proceed.When the "Remain in Mexico" program was initially enjoined by a federal judge in California in April of last year, migrants who had been in court on that day ended up spending more than two weeks in government holding cells while officials decided how to proceed. When the injunction was stayed, the migrants were returned to Mexico, allowed to enter the United States only for their court hearings.Government officials moved quickly to reverse the decision. It appeared clear that, whatever the immediate outcome, the issue would ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.Hundreds of asylum-seekers who have been returned to Mexico have since given up their claims, accepting free transportation provided by the U.S. government and the United Nations back to their homes in Central America. But others have vowed to continue with their cases.Yoleydi Gonzalez Jimenez, 26, arrived from Cuba with her husband in the Mexican city of Matamoros in September and has been living in a tent encampment at the end of an international bridge into the United States ever since. With little access to public bathrooms, the camp smells of human waste.Gonzalez Jimenez wears socks with her flip-flops to keep warm. A donated air mattress covered with pink and purple sheets fills the tent that has become the couple's home. Their few possessions are stacked on top and become soaked with water that seeps inside when it rains."I can't give up after all the time I've been waiting here, even though I feel like I'm going to die," she said after a court hearing in December. Her next hearing was scheduled in Brownsville, Texas. Until then, she was told, she would have to go back to Mexico.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Iran reports new surge in coronavirus cases Posted: 29 Feb 2020 06:55 AM PST  Iran on Saturday reported a surge in new coronavirus cases as the number of deaths jumped to 43, but it dismissed as "rumours" a report the real toll was much higher. Since it announced its first deaths from COVID-19, Iran has scrambled to bring the outbreak under control, shutting schools, suspending cultural and sporting events and halting meetings of the cabinet and parliament. The health ministry on Saturday reported nine new deaths and a 53 percent jump in infections over the previous 24 hours, taking the overall totals to 43 deaths among 593 cases.
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| Baltimore squeegee kids find work, risks, cash at stoplights Posted: 29 Feb 2020 06:52 AM PST  For these "squeegee kids," every idling windshield is an opportunity - to make a little cash, and to find work that doesn't involve the drugs or gang violence that plague much of the city. Nathaniel Silas' goal is to make a dollar during every red light by cleaning windshields. Silas knows he has 24 seconds during each light.
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| Opposition urges 'Russia without Putin' in rally for slain liberal Posted: 29 Feb 2020 06:35 AM PST  Thousands rallied in central Moscow on Saturday to call on President Vladimir Putin not to stay in power indefinitely, in the first major protest by the Russian opposition since the Kremlin chief announced controversial plans to change the constitution. The rally marked five years since the assassination of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, but its organisers also want the event to send a message to Putin after he proposed major constitutional changes. Organisers, including the country's most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny, called for a mass turnout to show Putin that he must not consider staying in power by any means when his current mandate ends in 2024.
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| Trump seeks high court approval to speed deportations Posted: 29 Feb 2020 05:14 AM PST  The man slipped into the U.S from Tijuana, Mexico, and made it just 25 yards from the border before he was arrested. A seven-month journey from Sri Lanka was over for Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam. Now he would be able to tell an American official why he had fled the place he had lived virtually his entire life: As a member of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, he had been beaten and threatened.
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| Protesters decry Cyprus crossing point closures over virus Posted: 29 Feb 2020 05:12 AM PST  Dozens of people pushed aside police barriers Saturday in Cyprus to protest the closing of a crossing point in the medieval core of the ethnically divided island nation's capital. Protesters chanted and raised placards opposing the closure of the Nicosia crossing point, which the Cypriot government said it ordered to help prevent the possible spread of the new coronavirus. The government shut four of nine such crossings along the 180-kilometer (120-mile) length of the United Nations-controlled buffer zone that separates a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north from an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.
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| AP FACT CHECK: Trump's viral spin on virus; Dem oversteps Posted: 29 Feb 2020 05:05 AM PST  President Donald Trump has not proved to be the bearer of reliable information when calamity threatens and people want straight answers about it. With numbers still low, but the first death in the U.S. now reported, the infectious disease risks not only public health but the economy he holds up to voters for his reelection. Trump has a record of unreliability on this front.
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| Coronavirus Goes Global, Super Tuesday Approaches: Weekend Reads Posted: 29 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The threat of the coronavirus went global this week, prompting Japan to shut schools, Germany and other countries to impose quarantines and sowing chaos in markets. Democratic presidential candidates face-off in South Carolina for the last primary before Super Tuesday on March 3. Former Vice President Joe Biden, no longer the front-runner, is facing an uphill climb after falling behind in the early contests and will need a blowout to keep his candidacy alive.We also take a look at the violence that exploded in India during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit and that country's construction of detention camps that could see millions of people imprisoned under new citizenship laws.We hope you enjoy these and more of our best stories from the past seven days in this edition of Weekend Reads.Coronavirus Crisis Seeds Chaos in Washington and on Wall StreetIn the 24 hours after Trump assured Americans that the response to the coronavirus was well in hand, signs of disorder began to emerge from Washington to Wall Street. Drew Armstrong reports. Biden Tries to Defy History After Sinking in PollsDespite leading national Democratic primary polls for more than a year, Biden's numbers have collapsed. Paul Murray explains how, since 1980, no candidate has managed to come back from such a position.Abortion Clinics Are Getting Nickel-and-Dimed Out of BusinessAmy Hagstrom Miller's clinic is on the brink. As Cynthia Koons and Rebecca Greenfield write, the de facto guardian of the pro-choice movement has won cases at the Supreme Court, but anti-abortion funders are threatening her operations with economic pressure.Johnson's Post-Brexit Spending Spree to End Era of AusterityU.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the biggest election victory since the days of Margaret Thatcher by wooing voters in Britain's former industrial heartlands. Now he's promised to "level up" struggling regions with a surge in spending, Andrew Atkinson reports. As Turkey Asks for U.S. Help, Trump Befriends Its Old EnemyGreece and the U.S. completed a live-fire exercise last week as the NATO allies strengthened military cooperation. Glen Carey reports how, as neighbor Turkey asks for help over the conflict in Syria, Greece has emerged as key to the U.S. struggle for influence in the eastern Mediterranean. Millions in India Could End Up in Modi's New Detention CampsIndia is building its first standalone detention center for people who don't meet new citizenship rules. Bibhudatta Pradhan takes us to the front lines of a battle that could see citizenship revoked for millions of people, stoking long-simmering religious tensions.Also, take a look at Muneeza Naqvi's story on the scenes from the aftermath of the worst communal violence to hit India's capital in nearly three decades.Coronavirus Shows Scale of Task to Fix China's Flawed HealthcareEven before coronavirus, China faced a monumental task to bring its healthcare system up to scratch. Now, that challenge has been highlighted after the virus exposed an over-reliance on big hospitals and shortcomings in emergency response. Japan Hits Panic Button Despite Weeks to Prepare for Virus Although Japan has had a front-row seat to the outbreak in China, it has at times appeared relaxed as the illness spread. But now, after weeks of halting preparations, the mood has changed, Gearoid Reidy and Shiho Takezawa report. One-Time Pariah That Hosted Bin Laden Now Courts Global ApprovalLed by a suspected war criminal who once hosted Osama bin Laden, Sudan's reputation could only improve when its government fell. Mohammed Alamin and Samuel Gebre explain Sudan's startling turnaround in rebuilding ties with the international community.And finally … As the outbreak of Covid-19 cuts a deadly swath across China, tens of millions of people are struggling with isolation under quarantine. People are turning to livestreaming to experience nightclubs, gyms, and other services that usually require physical interaction, an awkward but effective stopgap to maintain contact with the outside world. To contact the author of this story: Michael Winfrey in Prague at mwinfrey@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Here's the Reason why Russian Aircraft Keep Dying In Syria Posted: 29 Feb 2020 04:30 AM PST  Does Putin have a problem on his hands?
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| Trump’s new coronavirus risk: Dangerous spin and public distrust — inside Iran Posted: 29 Feb 2020 04:00 AM PST  If the coronavirus keeps spreading in Iran, the U.S. could face some tough choices after years of trying to isolate the country.
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| Thousands march in memory of slain Russian opposition leader Posted: 29 Feb 2020 03:47 AM PST  Thousands of people marched on a central Moscow boulevard Saturday in remembrance of a Russian opposition leader who was gunned down five years ago while walking on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin. The march also protested proposed changes to the Russian Constitution that opponents suspect are intended to give President Vladimir Putin a way to retain power once his term ends in 2024. Boris Nemtsov, one of Putin's most charismatic and energetic opponents, was shot to death on Feb. 27, 2015 as he walked on the bridge over the Moscow River.
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| The ‘Puppet Master’ of Putin’s Kremlin Is Out, but His Sinister Policies Are Still In Posted: 29 Feb 2020 02:33 AM PST  MOSCOW—Historians of Vladimir Putin's reign used to write volumes about the man who stood behind him, directing and manipulating, like the éminence grise of old. Kremlinologists described Vladislav Surkov as a shadowy crafter of Russian domestic policies, and somebody who destroyed his opponents without mercy. Trump's Fury at Intel Briefing Shows Putin's Bet Keeps Paying OffHe also became Russia's ruthless hand in rebellious eastern Ukraine through the last six years of the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv.But when the current of history changes, even the Kremlin's stars fall. Earlier this month President Putin sacked his 55-year-old aide in a terse two-sentence decree. There was no official elaboration, but Surkov let it be known the reason was a divergence of views on Ukraine as Putin charts a new course there.Independent political observers were intrigued. It was as if Donald Trump fired his advisor Stephen Miller, the generator of many cruel and controversial policies, and a lightning rod for criticism.Surkov is blamed for poisoning Russia's democracy, helping to destroy freedom of the press, inspiring far-right movements, and for shaping failed policies in Ukraine. During the first decade of Putin's Russia, Surkov tightened the reins of authoritarian rule, leading to Putin's second decade in power, and now perhaps a third—but this time without Surkov.Even at the height of Surkov's influence there were constraints. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a well-known Kremlinologist who used to work with Surkov analyzing polls, tells The Daily Beast, "He built the system from within but his power was limited. He once told me he was not walking in an open field but rather along a corridor with walls on both sides."Surkov mocked the west, democracy, elections and freedom of speech in an opinion piece published by the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta last year. "Putin's big political machine is just gaining momentum," Surkov wrote, calling on readers to evaluate "Putinism as the ideology of the future." But not many people noticed the article then. The author of Russia's "sovereign democracy," a euphemism for Putin's autocracy, already had ceased to interest most Russians. His fantasies and occasional self-satire are fading fast from the public's memory, at least for now.Ukrainians may find him harder to forget, as he continued to insult them even after his dismissal. "There is no Ukraine, there is just Ukrainian-ness. It is a specific kind of mental illness," Surkov said on Wednesday. Asked if he could imagine eastern Ukraine, known as Donbas, returning to Kyiv's control, he said, "I don't have a strong enough imagination to envision that. Donbas doesn't deserve such humiliation. Ukraine doesn't deserve such an honor." On Friday, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that Surkov looked like a phony strategist filled with self-importance, and noted that Ukraine lives in spite of whatever "the fired chauvinist" Surkov says about it.As a young man, Surkov served in the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU, infamous for its covert operations, including assassinations, and recently notorious for its role hacking and influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. As Putin's deputy chief of staff from 2000 to 2011, Surkov created an aura around himself as the puppet master pulling strings from behind the scenes. But his profile was high enough to interest journalists, and his responses to critical articles were furious.In 2005 Russian Newsweek discovered that Surkov was hiding his Chechen roots from his public biography. The magazine published Surkov father's name, Andarbek Dudayev, and photographs of little Surkov. It turned out that Putin's aid had spent a few years of his childhood in Chechnya. It was not the kind of thing the ultranationalist Surkov liked to have bruited about. "Surkov was angry when we published that story from Chechnya along with photographs of his family members," Leonid Parfenov, the former editor-in-chief of Russian Newsweek, told his colleagues when the magazine was folding in 2010. "I had to explain to him that it would be impossible for him to keep his Chechen origins in secret."Long before Trump tried to convince us that we live in post-truth reality, Surkov was weaponizing disinformation. Last year Foreign Policy magazine mentioned only one Russian on its list of 100 "global thinkers": "Vladislav Surkov has perfected the art of propaganda," the item explained. "Surkov has not only fortified the Kremlin's power by rearranging Russia's landscape of opposition parties and civil society groups but has also exploited media fragmentation to increase the reach of Russian disinformation—at home and abroad. His approach is said to have inspired various imitators around the world, including anonymous social media trolls and the Trump administration's press operation."Surkov is proud of his role as a creator of the system that is now leading the "information counterattack on the West." "Foreign politicians blame Russia for interfering in elections and referendums all over the planet," Surkov said in his recent Nezavisimaya Gazeta op-ed. "In reality, things are even more serious—Russia interferes with their mind and they don't know what to do about their own changed consciousness." One of Surkov's creations, the pro-Putin Nashi youth movement, was full of propagandists. Active from 2005 to 2012, at its peak it counted up to 150,000 members. Nashi activists enjoyed the Kremlin's support as they worked to humiliate and otherwise attack Russian opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists. Anybody who did not sympathize with the Kremlin's policies was included by Nashi in its enemies lists. Surkov also developed relations with far-right groups involved in the so-called Russky March demonstrations by neo-Nazi activists. "He used the old KGB method of infiltrating skinhead groups with his people and leading them," Kryshtanovskaya told The Daily Beast. Those who know Surkov well, say he has never been an ordinary bureaucrat, but rather a bohemian aesthete, a self-styled philosopher. When Washington put him on a sanctions list in 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea and its actions in eastern Ukraine, freezing his assets and barring him from the United States, Surkov responded with his typical cynical irony. "The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg and Jackson Pollock," he said. "I don't need a visa to access their work." Until recently Surkov was in charge of the Kremlin's peace talks in Donbas, as well as Moscow's policies in the Georgian separatist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Earlier this year, when the situation in Abkhazia seemed to be out control with a conflict between the leadership and the opposition, Surkov had to fly to Sukhumi and lead negotiations between the two sides. But it appears that, despite his many responsibilities, and despite his closeness to Putin in the early years, Surkov's access and influence waned considerably over the last decade. "His sunset began in 2011," Moscow-based political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky told The Daily Beast, "and only thanks to his influential friend Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was Surkov able to hang on. Seven years ago Putin trusted him with one more dirty and dangerous project, the conflict in Ukraine, but the times have changed, the Kremlin is in peace talks with Kyiv, Surkov is not needed." "Surkov's dream," said Belkovsky, "was to become the brain for the Kremlin but he failed." Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| The Taliban Peace Deal Might Have Been Had Many Years and Thousands of Lives Ago Posted: 29 Feb 2020 02:11 AM PST  The end was closing in on them. Not two months after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban's Kandahar stronghold was about to fall to its Northern Alliance antagonists. The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, commanded his forces in the city to seize "the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom." But after a week they acquiesced to their new reality. They offered to surrender Kandahar and demobilize, relegating their five-year rule to a few northern and eastern pockets where fighting persisted. "I think we should go home," announced Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban spokesman, on Dec. 7. Trump, Afghanistan, and 'The Tweet of Damocles'They had a condition. Omar had to remain in Kandahar, albeit under mutually acceptable supervision. Hamid Karzai, head of the new internationally backed Afghan government, was open to it, provided Omar "distance himself completely from terrorism." Asked by the Associated Press about the terms of Omar's quasi-captivity, the new leader said those were "details that we still have to work out." Karzai's American patrons had other ideas. "I do not think there will be a negotiated end to the situation that's unacceptable to the United States," said Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. secretary of defense. Could Omar live, as his spokesman had implored, "with dignity"? "The answer is no," Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. "It would not be consistent with what I have said." No one will ever know what would have happened if Rumsfeld and the George W. Bush administration had permitted Karzai and Omar to work out a deal—whether it would have held, whether the Taliban would have truly broken with al Qaeda, whether Afghanistan would have known peace. But there is brutal certainty about what happened instead: 2,298 dead U.S. servicemembers and at least 43,000 dead Afghans in a war the U.S. fought for a generation rather than admit it could not win. The Trump administration, in by far its most laudable foreign-policy act, is on the verge of a peace agreement with the Taliban. Official details about the U.S.-Taliban deal, likely to be signed Saturday, are scarce. Nothing about what follows is certain, not even whether it augurs the end of the war: Defense Secretary Mark Esper said last week that the U.S. expects to draw down to 8,600 troops, around the force levels it inherited from the Obama administration, while the Taliban insist the U.S. must withdraw entirely. Arduous negotiations await an Afghan government that is deeply divided internally and was brought into these peace talks reluctantly. Whatever emerges, Trump—to his credit and to the shame of those Trump critics who consider themselves more responsible stewards of U.S. foreign policy—has shattered the generation-long American political cowardice that inhibited negotiating an end to the war. At least three times over the past 19 years that the U.S. could have had such a deal, on terms at least as favorable to Washington as the one reached now, and likely better. The first was the 2001 surrender offer. Another opportunity arose in 2003. The third came amid Obama's 2010-11 troop surge. In the early days, the U.S. and its Afghan clients were so triumphant about their apparent victory, and the wounds of 9/11 and the Afghan civil war so fresh, that they sneered at negotiations. Later, when the Taliban insurgency showed the folly of that decision, the U.S. preferred to fight on in the similarly elusive hope that more violence would mean more leverage. Instead, over the course of 19 years, the Taliban simply strengthened their own. "The outcomes we could have gotten a decade earlier, two decades earlier, would have been far stronger," lamented retired Army Col. Chris Kolenda, who was part of the failed 2011-12 peace effort and has ever since urged the U.S. to negotiate with the Taliban. "It's a missed opportunity," assessed Ali Jalali, the former Afghan interior minister whom the Taliban contacted in 2003 to explore a deal. All of which is another way of saying that America's fantasies of what it could achieve in the war, even after it became a Washington cliché that the war had no military solution, consigned thousands to needless deaths. Jalali was a retired Afghan Army colonel, trained by the U.S. and elevated to interior minister in January 2003. Ahmed Rashid, in his 2008 book Descent Into Chaos, describes Jalali as a reformist who operated as a check against corrupt officials and the clique of ex-Northern Alliance figures who dominated the early Karzai era. They doomed what Jalali, in his 2017 book A Military History of Afghanistan, calls the second of the "two major opportunities for a comprehensive peace deal with the Taliban." In the spring of 2003, a Taliban emissary discreetly approached Jalali in Kabul—as others did Karzai and military potentate Marshal Mohammed Fahim—to see if a new modus vivendi was possible. The Taliban was in a liminal state. Its leadership was in Pakistan under the protection of Pakistan'a Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), but its insurgency had yet to fully coalesce. The ISI pressed the Taliban to cross the border back into Afghanistan and fight. Once there, however, its fighters received recruitment feelers from rival extremist factions; if they balked, the rivals would report their locations to U.S. and coalition forces for attack. "There were pressures all around" on the Taliban, Jalali recalled. Nonetheless, in 2003, the Taliban raised the price for a deal. They wanted immunity from prosecution and coalition attack, something hardly assured in U.S.-patrolled, Northern Alliance-dominated Afghanistan. If so, they would give up their insurgency and become something like a political party in the new internationally-guaranteed regime. At the Afghan national security council, several figures, including Jalali, argued it was worth exploring. "Their demands were simple and reasonable, but lacked details," he remembered. But the officials who had spent years fighting the Taliban were no more interested in peace than Rumsfeld was. If Taliban fighters wanted to surrender as individuals, that was to be embraced. Those who didn't would be crushed by the U.S.-Kabul alliance. After all, they were winning. "We discussed it for weeks. At the time, it was considered inside Afghanistan that the Taliban was a spent force [and] they cannot be given that kind of concession," Jalali told The Daily Beast. "Later they said the Taliban can lay down their weapons and surrender. No unconditional immunity. This was the mentality." Jalali believes the Americans knew little beyond the broad outlines of the Taliban proffer. They were disengaged from Afghanistan and preoccupied with the invasion of Iraq. The majority of the Afghan government were the spoilers, even though Jalali said Karzai was, as in 2001, open to a deal. "The political context then was favorable to the Afghan government and coalition forces and unfavorable to the Taliban. Therefore, a settlement was easier to reach, a sustainable one," Jalali explained. In the end, the Karzai government never sent an official response to the Taliban. The Taliban's response was to launch in earnest what Jalali calls the Second War of the Taliban.That war intensified over the coming years. In 2008, it had killed 100 U.S. troops, more than any year thus far, signaling Taliban strength and drawing American alarm. Newly elected President Barack Obama responded by ordering two rounds of troop escalations—first 23,000 by March and another 30,000 in December—bracketing an embrace of an expansive counterinsurgency seeking to retake land from the Taliban. But the July 2011 date Obama set for the end of the surge outpaced any plan for ending the war.By late 2010, with the date to end the surge approaching, the Obama team decided to see if a deal with the Taliban was achievable. It was a heavy lift. Both the Taliban and the U.S. were internally divided about the merits of a diplomatic accord. The Taliban let it be known they were done with Karzai—his government was America'a puppet, so they would only deal with America. As united as the Obama team was in insisting the war had no military solution, it had a harder time envisioning a political solution. Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke found himself undermined by military commander David Petraeus, who felt himself undermined by Holbrooke's diplomacy—which, in his view, relied on his war effort for leverage, anyway. "As long as you don't talk about ceasefires, then I've got no issue with it," a colleague quoted Petraeus saying in Mark Landler's book Alter Egos. Petraeus instead sought "reintegration," a cousin of the insistence on surrender that killed the 2001 and 2003 offers. "From the standpoint of the U.S. military, throughout that period, [there was] a persistent preference for trying to improve the US/Afghan-government position on the battlefield before negotiating. That's one thing that got in the way of prioritizing the effort," said Laurel Miller, a former senior U.S. diplomat focused on Afghanistan.U.S. outreach to the Taliban, done behind Karzai's back, did not get the chance to yield anything substantial. It was clear that the Taliban, in a vastly stronger position since they last sought an accord, would have a higher asking price for peace. Despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raising hopes for a deal in a February 2011 speech, Obama's team had their doubts that their Taliban interlocutor, Tayeb Agha, had sway with Omar, who, as the surge drew to a close, urged Obama to make "important and tough decisions." They would not get that far.In 2012, the U.S. and the Taliban reached a preliminary agreement to permit the Taliban to open a political office in Qatar. It was little more than a confidence-building measure, but Karzai was livid and rejected it, something the Obama team, which had untruthfully sworn the peace process would be "Afghan-led," accepted as final. Envoy Marc Grossman told Agha that Karzai's rejection doomed their deal. That was incomprehensible to the Taliban, which understood Karzai as an American stooge. In March, the Taliban announced they were walking away from the talks, blaming the Americans' "ever-changing position." Laurel Miller became deputy Afghanistan/Pakistan envoy in 2013 and eventually took over the office, a position she held until June 2017. She said that there were "various efforts" after 2012 to restart the peace process, but nothing took hold, owing both to continued opposition from the U.S. military and the inability to make an arduous, uncertain peace process central to Obama's final term. "If you compare the level of political capital and diplomatic muscle invested in negotiating the Iran deal or the opening with Cuba with trying to negotiate peace in Afghanistan, you see the latter pales in comparison, and I say that as someone involved in it," Miller said. Trump initially seemed to follow Obama's template: deep uncertainty about the wisdom of the Afghanistan war coupled with acquiescence to the military's impulse to escalate. But in 2018, following an initiative by Kolenda and ex-diplomat Robin Raphel revealed by The Daily Beast, U.S. officials again resumed contact with the Taliban. Soon, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appointed a Bush-era Afghanistan ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, to revive a diplomatic channel in pursuit of negotiating an end to the war. While formally committed to an "Afghan-owned, Afghan-led" process, Khalilzad functionally jettisoned it. The Taliban would not talk to the Kabul government without reaching an assurance with the U.S. first—and this time, Washington decided that it would not defer to its Afghan clients. The Americans were not exactly dealing from a position of strength. The Taliban, seeing little gain from diplomacy, intensified their war after Obama drew down in 2014. They came to control ever more territory, erasing whatever military initiative was won by Obama's and Trump's surges. All of this dispirited Kolenda, who had been part of the 2011-12 negotiating team. "We had a huge amount of leverage in 2011. The Taliban controlled a fraction of the country [compared to today], but we couldn't get our act together," Kolenda remembers. "Lack of vision, internal frictions, the withdrawal timeline, and poor coordination with the Karzai government squandered the opportunity. If we gave [the political] capital then that we gave the effort now, my personal belief is we'd have gotten a better deal then and a better outcome overall."Stats Show Trump's Afghanistan Surge Has FailedIt remains to be seen if the Afghans can negotiate peace. Khalilzad's team has built in an incentive, according to two sources briefed on the terms of the deal: the U.S. will return to Obama-era troop levels over the course of five months, but any end to the U.S. military presence is conditional—though on precisely what remains unclear. But what is compelling to the Taliban is likely horrifying to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Ghani, emerging from a mess of an election, has been dragged into a process he distrusts by an American patron he distrusts as well. Jalali, the former Afghan interior minister, describes himself as "cautiously hopeful." But he considers the disunity between the U.S. and its Afghan clients to be ominous. "If there is a withdrawal of U.S. forces, if it's not benchmarked with other elements of peacemaking—Afghan talks, a reduction in violence, the closing of Taliban bases in Pakistan—then the Taliban will just wait out the withdrawal of international forces and try to make separate deals with separate Afghan political groups," he said.Several Americans interviewed for this story were reluctant to condemn the earlier failures of the U.S. to negotiate an end to the war. "You can't coldly judge the rational case for sitting down with these folks. It's still hard. I do think there were opportunities that should have been taken along the way," said Annie Pforzheimer, who until March 2019 was the acting deputy assistant secretary of state for Afghanistan after serving as a senior diplomat in Kabul. But the alternative to the "rational case for sitting down with these folks" has been a war that continued to kill, maim, displace and impoverish thousands long after it became unwinnable. As with Vietnam, America has preferred denial of its loss to facing it forthrightly. It is unable to reconcile its defeat with its cherished conception of its own omnipotence. All of that speaks to the central reason why the U.S. avoided earlier deals with the Taliban as its leverage disappeared. "Making peace with the Taliban," says Miller, "is another way of saying we didn't win the war."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| REFILE-Iran's coronavirus death toll rises to 43, 593 people infected Posted: 29 Feb 2020 01:56 AM PST |
| Has China said enough about the coronavirus genome? Posted: 29 Feb 2020 01:30 AM PST |
| US and Taliban sign deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan Posted: 29 Feb 2020 12:08 AM PST  Acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the United States on Saturday signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that is aimed at ending America's longest war and bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan more than 18 years after they invaded in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The historic deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces in the next 14 months and allow President Donald Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the U.S. from "endless wars." At the White House, Trump told reporters the U.S. deserves credit for having helped Afghanistan take a step toward peace.
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| As India counts dead, brutality of Hindu-Muslim riot emerges Posted: 29 Feb 2020 12:01 AM PST  The wounded came in waves. As the Mustafabad neighborhood of India's capital was ravaged by communal riots for three days this week, the Al-Hind Hospital turned from a community clinic into a trauma ward. Doctors like M.A. Anwar were for the first time dealing with injuries such as gunshot wounds, crushed skulls and torn genitals.
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| Turkey opens gates into Europe as migrants gather on border Posted: 28 Feb 2020 11:26 PM PST  Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's borders with Europe were open Saturday, making good on a longstanding threat to let refugees into the continent as thousands of migrants gathered at the frontier with Greece. Erdogan's announcement that Turkey is allowing refugees and migrants to exit the country marked a dramatic departure from current policy and an apparent attempt to pressure Europe. It came amid a military escalation in northwestern Syria's Idlib province that has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians to flee fighting between advancing Syrian government forces backed by Russia and rebel fighters supported by Turkey.
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| Boris Johnson’s Challenge: Narrow a 50% Productivity Gap With London Posted: 28 Feb 2020 11:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world threatened by trade wars. Sign up here. The challenge facing Boris Johnson to raise living standards in struggling regions that voted for his Conservative Party in December was laid bare in new figures highlighting the productivity gulf dividing Britain.Productivity has grown much more quickly in London, southeast England and the West Midlands than in other parts of the country since 1994, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics on Friday.An hour of work in London produced 46.33 pounds ($59.70) of nominal gross value added in 2018, making it the most productive region of the country, despite a more subdued performance since the financial crisis.In the north, Yorkshire and the Humber on the other hand generated just 29.68 pounds, with real hourly output barely higher than it was 14 years ago. The average gap between the British capital and other regions was about 45%.Johnson won the general election by picking up votes in former industrial heartlands in the north and midlands on a promise to "get Brexit done."These areas are traditional strongholds of the opposition Labour Party, and Johnson now needs to address their sense of being economically marginalized to retain their support. Productivity growth is vital for lifting economic output and boosting pay packets.The prime minister's first budget on March 11 is expected to include billions of pounds for infrastructure projects such as railways, roads and broadband networks to help deliver on his promise to "level up" poorer regions.Productivity in 2018 was highest in London's Tower Hamlets, home to the Canary Wharf financial district and technology starts-ups, followed by Swindon and North Hampshire in southern England. It was lowest in Powys in rural Wales, North Northamptonshire in the East Midlands and Bradford in northern England.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint, Lucy MeakinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| As virus spreads, other countries can learn from China Posted: 28 Feb 2020 09:32 PM PST  As the new coronavirus spread rapidly in central China, the country's authoritarian government took a very authoritarian step: It ordered the unprecedented lockdown of 60 million people in the hardest-hit province. The shutdown of public transport in some cities, the closing of entertainment venues nationwide and a heavy dose of fear emptied the streets of the world's most populous nation. Now that the virus has reached every continent except Antarctica, with South America's first confirmed case this week, the World Health Organization is proposing a challenge for others: Be more like China.
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| Biden wins South Carolina, hopes for Super Tuesday momentum Posted: 28 Feb 2020 09:02 PM PST  Joe Biden scored a convincing victory in South Carolina's Democratic primary on Saturday, riding a wave of African American support and ending progressive rival Bernie Sanders' winning streak. Biden's win came at a do-or-die moment in his 2020 bid as the moderate Democrat bounced back from underwhelming performances in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. The race pivots immediately to a new phase when 14 "Super Tuesday" states take the campaign nationwide early next week.
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| Iran says 'tens of thousands' may get tested for coronavirus Posted: 28 Feb 2020 09:00 PM PST  Iran is preparing for the possibility of "tens of thousands" of people getting tested for the new coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases spiked again Saturday, an official said, underscoring the fear both at home and abroad over the outbreak in the Islamic Republic. The virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes have killed 43 people out of 593 confirmed cases in Iran, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
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| Donald Trump 'prepared to hold' historic arms control talks with Russia and China Posted: 28 Feb 2020 06:14 PM PST  Donald Trump has told Moscow that the US is prepared to holding a summit with other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in hopes of pushing for three-way arms control pact with Russia and China, a senior White House official has told Reuters. The New START treaty, the last major arms-control treaty remaining between the US and Russia, expires in 2021. There has been talk of negotiating an extension to the existing treaty, but the White House thinks the next generation of arms control must also include China, which is expected to more than double its stockpile during the next decade. Russia has asked the US to extend the New START treaty for up to five years, but Moscow also has embraced the idea of bringing China into an agreement. The US and Russia have had three bilateral meetings, while Washington and Beijing have discussed having a similar dialogue, but the planned meeting would be the first time that representatives of all three countries would be at the same table discussing the issue.
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| South Korea virus cases surge as WHO sounds maximum alert Posted: 28 Feb 2020 04:10 PM PST  South Korea reported its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases on Saturday as concerns grew of a possible epidemic in the United States and the World Health Organization raised its risk alert to its highest level. The virus has rapidly spread across the world in the past week, causing stock markets to sink to their lowest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears that the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy. The vast majority of infections have been in China but more daily cases are now logged outside the country, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging as major hotspots.
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| Coronavirus news: US records first death as patient dies in Washington state Posted: 28 Feb 2020 03:53 PM PST  Outbreak could leave one in 10 people in the UK in hospital Virus fears threatening to spark stockpiling and panic buying FAQ: Everything you need to know about coronavirus Fake news: 10 myths and conspiracies about the virus Subscribe to The Telegraph, free for 30 days Donald Trump reassured Americans that there was "no reason to panic" after the United States reported its first death from the coronavirus. Mr Trump said the victim in King County in Washington state was a "wonderful woman" in her late 50s who was "medically high risk". The president banned anyone who had visited Iran in the last 14 days from entering the US, and also advised Americans not to travel to affected areas of Italy and South Korea. Mr Trump said he was "very strongly" considering closing the US border with Mexico. He said the US had 43 million masks ready, and he would meet with the heads of pharmaceutical companies at the White House on Monday to discuss a possible vaccine. The president said: "Additional cases are likely but healthy individuals should be able to recover." Meanwhile back in Briton three more patients have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of UK cases to 23. Follow the latest here.
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| Trump picks Ratcliffe as top intelligence official, again Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:43 PM PST  President Donald Trump on Friday picked Rep. John Ratcliffe again to be the nation's top intelligence official, just months after abruptly ending an earlier effort to install him amid bipartisan criticism that the Texas Republican was unqualified for the post. Trump's decision meant that once again the GOP-led Senate would have to decide whether to put the three-term lawmaker in charge of overseeing the 17 U.S. spy agencies that the president has repeatedly scorned. It also puts the leadership of the intelligence community in the spotlight early in an election year in which those agencies are already warning that Russia is trying anew to interfere in the presidential race.
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